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Pachuquísmo


  • Brava Theater Center 2781 24th Street San Francisco, CA, 94110 United States (map)

Brava Presents La Mezcla in

Pachuquísmo

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18 at 8PM with post-performance reception
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19 at 8PM with post-performance discussion with the artists

photo by Jean Melesaine, Sandy Vasquez, Emmeline Gonzalez-Beban, Vanessa Sanchez.jpeg

Join Brava! for Women in the Arts when we present Vanessa Sanchez and La Mezcla in Pachuquísmo, an all-female exploration of the untold story of Chicanas during the 1940s Zoot Suit Riots through Tap dance, Mexican Zapateado, Son Jarocho, Jazz music, spoken word and archival video.

While most accounts on the Zoot Suit Riots relate the struggles of the male Pachucos, their female counterparts, Las Pachucas, are rarely heard from. Pachuquísmo explores this living history and culture of Mexican-American women and girls with a cast of nine female musicians, Tap dancers and Son Jarocho dancers. The development of the work has been deeply rooted in historical and cultural research of the time period, including art exhibits in Los Angeles and "The Woman in the Zoot Suit," by Dr. Catherine Ramirez.

Performers include Vanessa Sanchez, Sandy Vasquez, Emmeline Gonzalez-Beban, Kirsten Millan, Monica Fimbrez, Caroline Chung, Marina Garza and Elena de Troya.


TICKETS
$35 reserved orchestra
$25 reserved mezzanine



ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Vanessa Sanchez is a Chicana Native dancer, educator and choreographer who focuses on community arts education and multi-cultural dance forms. Her work often takes percussive art forms out of their traditional context to create dialogue in a new setting, using percussion as the language to tell a story while fusing various dance styles to address the complexities of contemporary culture. She holds a degree in Dance and Education from San Francisco State University and continues to train with master dance and music artists in the Bay Area and beyond. As a dedicated and experienced arts educator in the Latinx community, she works to ensure accessibility to quality arts training and performances. Sanchez is a San Francisco Bay Area native and the Founding Artistic Director of the multi-disciplinary performance ensemble, La Mezcla. Her work has been shown on stages throughout the United States, Mexico and Portugal. Sanchez has held residencies at EastSide Arts Alliance, Dance Mission Theater and Brava! for Women in the Arts, is a 2019 Dance/USA Artist Fellow and the recipient of the New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Production Grant. For more information, visit VanessaSanchez.net.


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La Mezcla is a dance and music ensemble whose work focuses on cross-cultural rhythmic collaborations that are rooted in folkloric tradition and social justice. Made up of artists of color, the current work uses live music, percussion, tap dance and Mexican zapateado to explore cultural identity and systemic racism.

Founded by choreographer and educator Vanessa Sanchez, La Mezcla works to provide a platform for the traditions and untold stories of communities of color. La Mezcla has performed at events including CubaCaribe, Dance Brigade’s SummerFeast, Brava Theater’s Baile en la Calle and was featured in CSU Channel Island's "Pachuquísma Symposium."


FUNDERS
Vanessa Sanchez and La Mezcla are supported by National Association for Latino Arts and Cultures, the San Francisco Arts Commission, California Arts Council Artists in Communities grant, Dancer’s Group CA$H grant, the Akonadi Foundation’s Beloved Community Fund, New England Foundation for the Arts Production grant, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and Dance/USA Artist Fellowship, which named Vanessa Sanchez a 2019 Fellow.

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